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Prop who likes to travel light

Tom Smith spoke out over the Budge Pountney affair, but he usually lets his feet do the talking, writes Lewis Stuart

February 16 2003, 12:00am, The Sunday Times

There was surprise in some quarters. Smith has an entirely justified reputation as the quiet man of Scottish rugby and is a most unlikely rebel. He rarely seeks the limelight off the pitch yet within the Scotland squad everybody knows that when Smith does start talking, it’s a good idea to listen.

All of which was reflected in the Murrayfield reaction to his comments, a case of “we’ll talk to him and see what we can do to correct things”, not so much a rebellion as a dialogue. And as far as Smith is concerned, rated the best ball-handling prop Jim Telfer has ever seen, it has worked.

“We had a double session on Monday and talked about it,” Smith said. “Obviously a few questions…

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